According to a press communiqué issued by the management of the Cidade de Goa hotel, on February 16 about '900 employees, associates and family members of the hotel marched peacefully to Raj Bhavan to call upon the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to save their livelihoods'.
Before one unnecessarily sheds tears for the Timblos, this 'peaceful march' follows the Supreme Court ordering Cidade de Goa to demolish their illegal constructions encroaching on a public beach that the hotel has clandestinely tried to keep private for years, refusing passage through the hotel lobby (as is their right), but also sealing off public access to the traditional road that goes down to the beach. Which agitation in Goa – and these are growing in number – would not have wished for this kind of orchestration? The Governor, the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition conveniently at hand to receive a memorandum. 200 odd employees of the hotel and students from the Academy of Culinary Education (an illegal construction) joined by 'associates' (who could be truck drivers from the mines for all we know) and 'family members' to make up the numbers. Not a single lathi charge. Not a single old woman put in the lock-up, not one woman abused by police officers in the pay of a mining company, not a single villager harassed by cops as happened in Collomb. No defamation case. Civilized politics. The Chief Minister, as only to be expected, played for time. He made sympathetic noises and promised to study the situation. The Leader of the Opposition, given his propensity to take over space with his mouth, did exactly that. The Herald quotes him say saying 'It is a simple matter. The legislature should act and I will fully support so that so many jobs are protected. We cannot afford to lose jobs in the time of recession'. So what is he saying exactly, that the Legislature should act by overthrowing a Supreme Court order? Not to be outdone, support for this farce was also extended by Taleigao MLA and Education Minister Babush Monserrate who the Herald quotes as saying 'The government must do all it can to prevent demolition. The resort provides many jobs in the constituency and I will support any effort to avoid the breaking down of any part of the hotel which will lead to job losses.' It is all very funny if it wasn't so sad. The Cidade de Goa memorandum states that 'the Court has ordered that an integral part of the resort be demolished' and pleads with the governor 'to intervene within the constitutional framework and help us to avoid this demolition, which will save us our jobs and livelihood'. For 'integral' above read 'illegal', read that the Timblos knew exactly what laws they were flaunting and why, and how their business prospered, read that within the constitutional framework when the Supreme Court of this land passes an order it must be respected. In any civilized country, the Timblo-led 'peaceful march' would have been seen as contempt for the constitution.
